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SPEECH OF C. M. CLAY, 

OF FAYETTE, 



In Ih 



e House of Represmtalivesof Kentucky, January, 1841, upon the 
bill to repeal the law o/ IS^JI " to prohibit the importation ofslaves 
into this state.'' The House being in committee of the whole- 
Mr. Clay having the floor, said : 



Mr. Chainnan .- — The result of your delibe- 
rations upon this bill must affect the, destiny 
of this State, and perhaps that of the Union 
Itself. Pamplilets and sprechcs have gone 
forth amonnr the whole people, and all the lead- 
intr journals of the State have taken {rround 
upon one side or liie oilier. If I were pleadinjr 
my own cause only, however much I mighv 
hazard in the result, I should ask your atten- 
tion with diffidence; bi;t I stand up here in 
behalf of a whole people— your State, your- 
self, and your posterity, are so nearly concern- 
ed as to demand a pai/ent hearin<> and a deli- 
berate determination. 

The trentleman from Breckenridge* and 
the gentleman from Louisville have done me 
th(? honor to allude to me personally, and the 
late canvass in my county, and although 
they have done so in a manner most com- 
plimentary to myself, yet, to me, it is a 
soured of regret, because my opponents are 
not here to answer what 1 may h.ive to say. 
I Khali, therefore, speak of ihem in no other 
terms than those of scrupulous respect. The 
influences which were arrayed against me 
were indeed great: a young man (in intellect 
at least my equal) with all the advantages of 
wealtli and thorough education, in the county 
of his nativity, and among the associates of 
his childhood and youth, the son of an old po- 
litician, who had done some service to the 
Commonwealth, and whose legal attainments 
at all events had no small consideration in the 
public estimation, was my opponent. T. on 
the contrary, was a new-comer. If I bore 
with me any reputation for ability, it nnisl 
have been of necessity but little, whilst, if I 
had any social qualities worthy of considera- 
tion, my limited associations barred their in- 
fluence. It was then the policy and justice 
of the cause I advocated, which, in a county 
(-1 ten thousand slaves, sustained me triumph- , 
antly. The discussion of this subject is dc- ! 
precated here— so it was deprecated there— 
and by whom in both cases ? By those who 
will not rest whilst this law stands ; who ' 

• Mr. Calhoun— Mr. Towles, of Henderson, ' 
the mover of the bill, was not heard by the au- ' 
thor. 1 



would claim a judgment against us by de- 
nuilt; who, by bitter denunciation would 
drive us from our integrity; they be.T the 
question, and ask us to be silent ; they''have 
demanded the repeal of this law for three 
years; at every stage the law has rapidly 
gained friends, and yet they dare tell us that 
the people require its repeal. Epithets strike 
no terrors into my spirit; denunciation shall 
not silence me. It has been said, that mo- 
ney IS power, that knowledge is power, but » 
more powerful than both thtse combined is { 
truth. Let me ever worship at her shrine- 
she is the high priestess of republican liberty. 
Let my voice be lifted up for ever in her 
cause.* Shall the slaves of our state be in- 
creased ? If slavery is a blessing, by all 
means repeal this law; but if it be° an evil, 
as I hold, as held JelTersoii and Henry and s 
Madison, and all the illustrious statesmen of ' 
the world from I77(i to the present day, then 
you dare not touch that law which stands 
like a wall of adamant, shielding our homes, 
and all ihat makes that name most sacred, 
from more than all the calamities that ever 
Uarbarian invaders inflicted upon a conquered 
people. The gentleman from Breckenridae 
avows slavery to bo a "blesr.ing," and under- 
takes, by scripture, to hallow it with the sanc- 
tion of Deity. This is a strange doctrine to 
be heard ui any country, but to urge it here, 
among Kentuckians, and in this assembly, 
IS not only strange, but monstrous. 1 can- 
not assent to the argument, 1 oppose it up- 



• " He, therefore, who retards the progress of 
intellect, countenances crime; my, lo a Slate is 
the greatest of crimfnals. Nor" lot us belie'«re, 
with the dupes of a shallow policy, that there ex- 
ists upon the whole earth one prejudice that can 
be called salutary, or one error l)eneficial to per- 
pe_tuale." "It is the petty, not the enlarged mind 
which (irefers casuistry to conviction; it is iho 
confined and short sight of ignorance, which, un- 
able to comprehend tiie great bearings of tiulh, 
pries only into its narrow and obscure corners 
occupying iisolf in scrutinizing the atoms of a 
part, which the eagle eye of wisdom contem- 
plates in its widest scale, the luminous majesty of 
the whole.''— 5«/tff,r. 



/ ^.'• 



- J- , 



t44 






on every principle of truth and expediency, 
now and forever; it sups the foumlaliau ol 
human liberty— If you sanction it now, 
where and to what shall I appeal, when the 
sword and the purple are arrayed against me? 
No, let not gentlemen in their blind zeal to 
make slavery here ''perpetual,'' cleave down 
the banner under which our forefathers fought 
and triumphed, the barrier against the op- 
pressors of all lands, " that all men are born 
free and equal." The divine right of kings 
has fallen before the advance of civilization; 
the most loyal and despotic sticklers for 
royalty now speak only of the hisiorkal right 
of princes to rule. Can it be that this doc- 
trine shall have fallen only to give place to 
its more monstrous counterpart— the divine 
ricrht of slavery 1 I understand our religion 
to" leave the form of government, and the 
municipal institutions of nations untouched; 
nay, sir, the Saviour of men disclaimed the 
ricrht of interference—" give unto Ca3sar 
th*e things that are Cajsar's"— was his doc- 
trine ; it is also my doctrine. lam no re- 
former of governments. 1 leave slavery 
where 1 found it; 'tis not a matter of con- 
science with me; I press it not upon the 
consciences of others—" let him who form- 
ed the heart, judge of it alone." I admit, 
with the gentleman, the antiquity ofslaveiy; 
that it has existed from time immemorial to 
the present day ; yet, sir, in all that time, I 
find nothing to recommend it as a source of 
power, of glory, or of humanity. Its first 
mention is in Genesis, where Isaac subjects 
Esau to .Jacob. Esau rose up to slay his 
brother, and Jacob was forced to fly from his 
country. Evil, in the begining,as itis now. 
The .lews were enslaved by Pharaoh in 
Egypt; what again were the consequences ? 
In^the metaphoncal language of the historian, 
unheard of plagues come upon the Egyptiaiis, 
which were terminated only by the entire 
destruction of Pharaoh's host in the Red 
Sea. .Jerusalem was destroyed, and the 
Jews led captive by Nebuchadnezzar, and 
held in bondage in the Assyrian empire. 
What was the result— glory and dominion 
and safety ? No, sir; these slaves were the 
cause of the destruction of Babylon, and the 
utter ruin of the empire. The inspired wri- 
ters imputed the destruction to the oppres- 
sion of the Jews ; the profane agree in the 
result; whilst it requires no great sagacity 
to discover that slavery, through natural 
means alone, was commensurate as a cause 
to the result. 'Tis true that Darius or 
Cyaxerxes and Cyrus the Persian, turned 
aside the Euphrates and entered through 
the dry channel, beneath the walls, with 
their army; but it was by treachery only 
that he could pass the massive gates which 
barred the entrance from the river through 
the streets to the place. The hand writing 
upon the wall was Hebrew ; Daniel, the 



Hebrew, alone coud read and interpret it to 
the doomed Belshazzar. Effeminacy and 
luxury had caused the Hebrew slave to rule 
over that once powerful and gloriou? nation ; 
they were betrayed in the midst of reveUy 
and self confidence ; they were destroyed in 
a night; and Daniel, the slave and the Jew, 
was°made vice regen', under Cyrus, over all 
the shattered provinces. Thus passed away 
for ever the most splendid city that the 
w(0d has seen, most impolently, without a 
struggle, leaving no vestige behind. I am 
graveTy told, that in those countries of an- 
tiquity, where slavery existed, the human 
intellect reached its highest development; 
yet did slavery exist among all nations at 
that time. How happened it that a cause 
so general produced effects so limited'? No, 
sir ; the Grecian and Roman Slates were 
glorious in spile of slavery. The ancient 
historians say but little upon the subject of 
slavery ; perhaps they thought (as some do 
now) that nothing should be said on the 
subject of so great a "blessing;" yet, when- 
ever we do hear of itj desolation marked its 
progress, mentioned only in connection with 
the evils of its sufferance. Plutarch and 
Thucyoides tell us thht, during the reign of 
Archidamus, an earthquake threw Mount 
Taygetus upon the city oV Sparta, and de- 
stroyed it. Their slaves, the Helots, those 
natural enemies of the master, immediately 
rose up and set upon the Lacedemonians ; 
and this proud people were forced lo call in 
their rivals, the Athenians, to protect ihem from 
domestic violence. We may judge of the 
prolonged desolation of the war, when we 
are told, that Ithome was besieged for ten 
years before it was taken. We may esti- 
mate the effects of slavery upon the moral 
sensibilities of that people, when vve are in- 
formed that 2,000 slaves were massacred in 
a single night; and yet the perpetrators of 
the deed escaped prosecution, the whole 
community winking at the offence. The 
servile wars in the Roman Empire are too 
well known to be dwelt upon. Slavery- 
there certainly formed no element of strength 
or greatness. If the slaves who cultivated 
the soil had been free Roman citizens (a 
check upon the enervated and luxurious city- 
population) Ca3sar might not have been the 
master of the world, and Rome might have 
yet been free. Has slavery in modern times 
been the foundation of greatness and civiliza- 
tion 1 Why, then, have Asia and Africa 
been subject to non-slaveholding Europe; 
and why has South America, with all her 
slaves, rested stationary in barbarism, whilst 
North America, under a different policy, has 
risen up the nrst among the civilized na- 
tions ] Modern slavery, more marked and 
distinctive in its character than ancient, is 
so much the more terrible in its consequen- 
ces. Formerly, the color being the same, 



■ 'twas easy to merge tlie slave inio the frced- 
" man, ami the freedman into the citizen ; bui 
now the dillerence of color is an eternal 
badcre of servitude and infamy — an impassi- 
' ble barrier between the two races. The 
' massncre of St. Domingo, and the insurrec- 
r-y lion of Southampton, speak they of "bles- 
. - sings" of peace, of glory, and power] The 
""^ most overweening self-delusion cannot be 
v^ deaf to the despairing energy with which 
all history cries aloud and swears^that Dtiiy 
lias not designed tliat slavery shall be the 
necessary foundation of" liberty"* and civi- 
lization ! If the Old Testament seemed to 
sanction the insiiiuiion of slavery, (and I 
rnight ask, what phasis of human action un- 
der the sun did it not sanction?) there is 
nothin<r, surely, in the Christian religion 
which regards slavery with eyes of peculiar 
approbation. Those precepts apon which 
are said to "rest the laws and the prophets," 
certainly are not the foundations upon which 
involuntary slavery can intrench itself. The 
Virginia statute of 1753 first making slaves, 
excepted Moors and Turks in alliance with 
the British King, and Christians and persons 
once free in a Christian land. 1'hus, it 
seems, that the founders of slavery in Ame- 
rica so far regarded the Christian religion at 
war with slavery, that, in whatever land its 
immortal banner was raised, it was the 
shield of the weak and ihe oppressed, the 
palladium of eternal liberty to the vilest 
wretch who could clothe himself in the in- 
violable panoply of the Christian name. 

I have thus been co.mpelled to answer, re- 
luctantly, some of the arguments in favor of 
the divine right of slavery: reluctantly, be- 
cause I deprecate this attempt to treat this 
subject as a matter of conscience, whilst at 
the same time, 1 cannot silently acquiesce in 
this wresting the religion, of all others among 
men inculcating freedoin and equality, to the 
unnatural sanction of the most despotic of all 
known governments — that of master and in- 
voluntary servitude. 

Christianity, then, secrns to have been the 
foundation of the anti-slavery movement; 
next was the spirit of the American Revolu- 
tion. — One«;f the alleged grounds of the re- 
bellion was the importing of slaves inio the 
colonies against their consent. In 1778, two 
years after the Declaration of Independence, 
Virginia imposed a penalty of 1,000/. and 
the forfeiture of the slave, upon the importer 
of any slave into that Commonwealth. The 
act of 1785 makes some amendments to that 
of '78. The act of 1791 modifies the above 
acts, and introduces a clause of emancipation. 
The act of 1798 again modifies and carries 
out the prohibitory clause of the Constitution 



♦ See Governor McDuffie's inaugural address' 
and Mr. Wickliffe's speech on the law of 18,>2-3- 



against foreign importation. The act of 181.5 
imposes the penalty nf$G00upon importation 
and the oath. The law of 1B32-.'} but does 
the same. Thus, from 1778 to the present 
time, has a law similar to this, with the same 
oath in all. been upon the statute hook of our 
country. Such has been the policy of the 
slave States from the Revolution to the pre- 
sent time. All the original Slates, save 
Massachusetts, weie slave states. Through 
the silent and safe operation of laws like this, 
slavery has gone south of Mason's and 
Dixon's line. All of the slave Stales have 
had laws similar to this. The importation 
of slaves is forbidden, to a certain extent, by 
the constitution of Mississippi. (Georgia 
makes the domestic slave-trade felony — a 
penitentiary offence. The United States, 
since 1808, have made the foreign slave-trade 
piracy ; so also have Great Britain, Holland, 
and France. Although the African be a 
slave at home, yet is the slave trade punished 
with death. Well may gentlemen become 
the apologists of the slave-trade who advocate 
the repeaT of this law. 

Having thus attempted to repel the divine 
right of slavery, and prove that this law, so 
far from being an innovation, and contrary to 
precedent, is in accordance with the settled 
policy of all our eminent men, from VVashing- 
ton, JefTerson, and Henry, down to the ])re- 
sent lime — that it is in unison with the 
Christian religion, and the advance of civili- 
zation and the irresistible moral sentiment of 
mankind — I shall now attempt to vindicate 
its constitutionality. 

Shall the law of 1832-3 be repealed-' Shall 
I not, says the opponent of this law, be al- 
lowed to bring in a slave for my ow.». use, if I 
want? He might also ask, shall i not be 
allowed to bring in a slave from Africa also? 
Yet the laws of the United States impose 
the penalty of death upon the foreign slave- 
trader, and the domestic slave-traders be- 
come, in the eyes of some, very highly re- 
spectable gentlemen, who dare denounce the 
native sons of Ivonlticky as abolitionists, and 
enemies of the country, who oppose the 
same traflic which united America has for- 
bidden with doaih. And, while the Presi- 
dent of the United States of America is call- 
ing upon Congress to break up, more effectu- 
ally, the trade in African slaves, they arc 
i demanding no less earnestly that this State 
shall be desecrated, and impoverished, and 
brutalized, by an overflow of the slough of 
slavery from all the jails of the South, to gra- 
tify the rapacity and avarice of those lovely 
specimens of hiiinan philanthropy — the pro- 
fessional slave traders. This indigtiation at 
restraint comes with a bad grace from those 
whose freedom consists in trampling with an 
iron heel upon the human will. Laws are 
made for short-sighted selfishness; to bend the 



wayward impulses of the individual mind to 
subservience to the public good. The gen- 
tleman from Breckenridge tells us, that all 
men are governed by self-interest ; and, dis- 
guise it as we may, selfishness lies at the 
bottom of all our actions; that I, the represen- 
tative of a county with 10,000 slaves, favor 
this law because it makes them valuable to 
the slaveholder; but that the gentleman from 
Louisville is for the law, because they there 
have " white slaves''' who are cheaper than 
blacks. I confess that I am moved by self- 
interest ; but there are two kinds of interest — 
the one, a narrow, short-sighted, unstates- 
man-like self-interest, which looks only to 
immediate consequences — it subserves the 
passion and the appetite — it is the foundation 
of all mental, and moral, and physical de- 
basement — it is the instigator of crime, and 
its end is death. But there is another, en- 
larged and far seeing and statesman-like self- 
interest — which looks not only to immediate 
but secondary and remote consequences — it 
yields not to impulse, nor to passion, but is 
subservient to reason — it becomes the ground- 
, work of virtue, wisdom, and immortality. In 
private life, 'tis the essence of morality, in 
the public man it is true patriotism. Fortu- 
nately, however, for Fayette, it is not neces- 
sary to draw these nice distinctions ; both in- 
terests impel her with concentrated force to 
sustain the law of 1833 ; for as the owner of 
10,026 slaves, valued at ^,3,743,133, is there 
any slaveholder so blind as not to see that 
the free importation of slaves reduces, by all 
the laws of trade, the value of her slave po- 
pulation in proportion to the increase and 
supply from abroad ? While on the other 
iiand, the far reaching eye of enlightened pa- 
triotism will discover in the increase of the 
whites, over the slaves, security and wealth, 
and progressive greatness to the whole State. 
Again : if you draw the line between the slave 
and the non-slaveholder, as some recklessly 
do, you again find that all the interests of 
both parties unite once more in sustaining 
the law. For if, by the law, the value o1' 
slave labor is increased ; so also by the same 
law, is the value of white labor increased : 
for all experience shows that the price of 
black, regulates the price of while labor: 
And it is added that nine-tenths of the free 
white population of Kentucky are non-slave- 
holders, or working men, will they ever be 
so infatuated and blind as to lower the price 
of labor and starve their own families, to 
"diffuse the slave population over all the 
slave States," that southern nabobs may 
sleep in security, while their own little inno- 
cents may cry for bread ; or sink into that 
other sleep, never again to wake ?— It is the 
interest of all Kentucky, then, lo diminish 
the number of slaves. Let us see if the law 
of '33 has the desired effect. 



Census. 



Whites. 



Table No. I, showing the number of Whites 
and Blacks in Kentucky. 

Slaves and Blacks to 
free, blacks. Whites. 

1790 61,133 11,944 1 to 5,11 

1800 179,871 41,084 1 " 4,37 

1810 324,237 82,974 1 " 3,94 

1820 434.644 129,637 1 " 3,35 

1S30 517,787 170,130 1 " 3,04 

IS'IO 587,016 190,342* 1 " 3,06 

Absolute in- 
crease of 
whites and 
blacks in 
the last ten 

years from 
'30 to 1840, 69,230 20,212 1 to 3,40 

Thus, from the admission of Kentucky 
into the Union, down to 1830, the slave po- 
pulation rapidly increased, as shown by the 
census, upon the whites — but since 1830, by 
the passage of the law, the whites have rapid- 
ly increased upon the blacks— making the ab- 
solute increase in ten years of 3.40 whites to 
1 black. 
Table No. 2, shoviincr the increase tf the 

U'hites and the combined free colored and 

slave population in the slave States, in 40 

ijears,frum 1790 to 1830, Florida omitted. 
From Blacks in- Whites in- 
States. 1790 to crease per crease per 

1830. cent. ccnf. 

Maryland,! 1~90 40.3794 39.5204 

Virginia, " 98.8820 57.0406 

N. Carolina, " 15L2094 61.0654 

S.Carolina, " 196.9117 338.8113 

Georgia, " 641.7470 461.2185 

CQKentucky," 1324.3972 746.9844 

Tennessee, " 3768.6607 1573.5264 
Mississippi, 1800 1702.7241 1260.1661 
Louisiana, 1810 198.9656 160.6773 

xMissouri, " 609.2316 566.3667 

Alabama, 1820 147.7971 97.8347 

Arkansas, " 178.4533 104.0432 

D. of C, 1800 204.7183 173.8228 

Total increase 

per cent, in 

forty years, 207.4671 200.0080 

Total increase 

in the U. S. 

percent. 207.4671 232.1512 

By reference to the statistics in the pam- 
phlet;^ on your desk, and the table (marked 
No. 2) here in my possession, you will find 

*The Auditor's Report makes about 18,000 
less. 

t Owing to emancipation, the decrease of Mary- 
land's slave population in 40 ypar.s, was 0.0480 
per centum. 

^Review of R. Wicklifle's speech, &c., by C, 
.VI. Clay, 1840. 



5 



that in tlie slave Stales the increase of the 
black, upon tlie white population, has been 
slow but profrressive — whilst in tho United 
Slates, the whites have incnased upon the 
blacks, Iroin 1790 to 1830, the whites increas- 
ing at the rate of 2J2.15 per centum, and the 
blacks increasing at the rate of 187.87 per 
centum. Which shows, conclusively, that 
in the tree Stales, the whites increase in a 
greater ratio upon the same basis, than they 
do in the slave States, or that slavery is a 
draw-hack upon population ; or else it shows, 
that if ihe whites propajjate as fast in a slave 
as a free Slate, that emiijration is jrreater, or 
immigration less; in either case the slave 
Stale is the loser. If a free white population, 
then, be an element of wealth and greatness, 
surely the law of '33 should stand. As a 
while population is not only the foundation 
of wealth and military strength, hut of re- 
presentative power in the United States, the 
contrast between a slave and free State can- 
not fail to strike forcibly the most unthink- 
ing.* Kentucky has the advantage over 
Ohio in age, and perhaps in natural resources 
— such as richness of soil, mineral wealth, 
climate, &c.. yet, by the census of 1840, 
Keiiiucky has a total of 777,359 inhabitants, 
(increasing in ten years at the rate of 33 per 
centum,) whilst Ohio has, in 1810, 1.514.695, 
(having increased at the rale of 62.50 per 
centum in the same ten years,) having now 

a population greater than Virginia, even 

(1.210,272.) And. whilst So'Iilh Carolina 
has increased her whole population in ten 
years 2 per cent., Massachusetts, of about 
the same age and natural advantages, has in- 
creased 21 per cent, in the same time. What 
statesman can look at these facts, and yet 
vote to repeal this law ? Who that has the 
pride of a Kenluckian, would not rather wish 
that this law had been a part of the constitu- 
tion itself? 

The gentleman from Breckenridge has 
spoken of the lower classes of New England 
as being »• slaves — worse than slaves," and 
because we have alluded to the genius of 
that people as developed in literature, arid 
especially in the useful sciences and me- 
chanic arts, we are taunted as being allied in 
feeling to " Yankees." Since ihe°ever me- 
rnorable^ reply of Daniel Webster to the 
South Carolinian, on Foote's resolutions, 1 
had supposed that no one would venture to 
deride the name of " Yankee," They need 
no defence at my hands — I shall make none. 
I am a Kenluckian, of the Virginian descent. 
1 have not been taught to consider praise 
given to another, as so much detraction from 
myself; nor have I thought it necessary to 
establish my claims to the honor of being of 
the true blood, that I should despise and 

*See letters, &c„ by T. F. Marshall, pages 
28-9, 184U. 



abuse all tho world besides. It is the part 
of friendship to supply .lofecls, and to cor- 
rect errors: because 1 am proud of my Slate 
and love her renown, I call upon her, by all 
the triumphs of the pisi, to seek the true 
road to permanent happiness and ultimate 
i glory. 

[Mr. Clay here read from a newspaper an 
extract, showing ihat there had been orders 
from all parts of the world for various kinds 
; of American machinery— grist mills for Hol- 
land ; steam cars for England ; steam vessels 
j for Russia; cotton gins for India, &c. &c.] 
I I would now ask the advocates of slave la- 
hour, how long shall we wait till we shall be 
' able to supply Europe with such specimens 
I of manufacture and arlistical ingenuity ? How 
ilong before Holland will serid to Kentucky 
! for grist mills? How long before the eyes of 
the gentleman from Breckenridge shall glow 
at the sight of such rail-road steam ca^s, of 
, Kentucky make, as Philadelphia has lately 
had the honor of shipping for the admiration 
j of other lands ? How long before we shall 
here see such a steam ship as lately floated in 
the harbors of New York, for ihe emperor of 
: Russia? We have waited for two hundred 
' years to see these things; but alas! we have not 
seen them. How many hundred years long- 
jer shall our hearts fail with the sickness of 
; hope deferred, before we shall partake of the 
^ triumph of these creations of " Yankee" ge- 
j nius? Like the doomed Jew, we wander on 
in darkness and sullen expectancy, clinging 
I with desperate fondness to the cast ofl' idols 
of days that are gone, unconscious of the 
heavenly light which surrounds us, and the 
Ueity that moves in our midst ! Have we 
succeeded better in literary eminence ? I ' 
might ask of the South, as the British review- 
er of America, Mho reads a southern book? 
Where are our Irvings and Coopers? Where 
our Percivals and Hallecks? Where our 
Sillirnans and Hares, and Fultonsand Frank- 
lins? Our very presses and paper and pri- 
mers even, are of Yankee manufacture. 'Tis 
irue in the deparments of law and politics— 
those ever tense and exciting professions— 
those hot beds of intellect, we have produced 
some splendid specimens of mental develop- 
ment, but they only make us the more deeply 
regret that so much mind should lie forever 
dormant, perishing in the embryo, or sunk in 
the stagnant pools of luxury and indolence 
which slavery spreads far around like the 
tabled Stygian lake— an eternal barrier be- 
tween ils doomed spirits and a higher Hea- 
ven? And shall I, then, be tau'nted with 
Yankee feeling, because I would dispel the 
deep lethargy which rests upon our loved 
Kentucky ? Shall 1 speak of her triumphs 
upon every batllo field, from Lake Erie to 
the Gulf of Mexico? Shall 1 tell of her 
characteristic eloijuence which, whether heard 
in rude accents on the stump, or more polish- 



6 



ed phrase in halls of national legislation, fears j 
no rivalry? .Shall T name her Boones, her | 
Kentons, her Estills, and her Bryants— the j 
hardy stock upon which were grafted the 
raore polished actions of fairer bloom, and ! 
fruit more mature ? Shall 1 aggregate her j 
glory, and give names to its impersonations] 
Shall 1 sp°eak of her Breckrenridgcs, her 
Nicholases, her Marshalls, and her Clays— | 
they whose names live with Kentucky, and I 
die when, she dies — they who formed the I 
constitution of the State, and breathed into j 
that sacred charter the same free spirit which : 
animated their own bosoms ? What said | 

they? That " slavery was a blessing, the 

foundation of human liberty?" that it should j 
be perpetual? No ! sir, no! The law of '33 
but carries out and fulfils their just expecta- 
tions and cherished hopes. 'I'he same impress 
of wisdom and patriotism which characterises 
that instrument, signed by my father (if 1 
may be pardoned the egotism) and by your 
father, (Mr. Calhoun's) marks this law. And 
it is with feelings of pride and increased con- 
fidence, that 1 and the decendants of thope 
Breckenridges and Nicholases, and Marshalls 
are now standing up the inost fearless de- 
fenders of this same much-abused statute. It 
is the cause of our fathers which I vindicate 

we are degenerate sons if it fail. 

The gentleman from Breckenridge would 
import slaves "to clear up the forests of the 
State— the Green river country demands the 
repeal." Take one day's ride from this ca- 
pitol, and then go home and tell them that 
you have looked upon the most fertile and 
lovely land that nature boasts, and have seen 
it in the space of fifty years worn to the rock 
—tell thein of the drains and clay banks and 
briar fields — tell them of the houses untenant- 
ed and decaying — tell them of the depopula- 
tion of the interior counties, and the ruin of 
our villages— tell them all this, and more- 
tell them that the white Kentuckian has fled 
before the Ethiopian— tell them ihatyou have 
heard the children of the whites cry for bread, 
while the black were clothed and fed and 
laughed; and then ask them, if they will have 
blacks to fell their forests] Tell them that 
the (xreen River is acquiring new strength in 
this house, while the interior representation 
is fading away— tell them that Clarke has but 
one member here, and that Bourbon, which 
once voted three thousand strong, is reduced to 
1, COO voters; tell them that Fayette has 10,000 
slaves, as many slaves as she has horses, 
then ask them if they will repeal this law] 
Tell them this, and, my life for it, they wall 
stand for this law for ever. 

It may be asked, if the worn and waste 
land, seen even in the richest portions of the 
State, is owing to slave labour. I answer, 
yes. Ignorance and carelessness, which are 
necessarily combined in the slave, makes his 
the most slovenly and wasteful of all labour. 



The field is ploughed— a cross furrow is run 
— the rain falls — the water collects in the 
common trench — the land is washed to the 
rock — the slave may be corrected — but the 
evil is not remedied, and the soil is lost, and 
the field turned waste. These things will 
not be seen in the free States; land which 
here is turned waste, or white oak, and un- 
occupied, are better bases than those in New 
England, which have been improved and 
have contributed to the sustenance and edu- 
cation of respectable families. The easy life 
of the slaveholder, destroys his vigilance and 
activity; supersedes the necessity of econo- 
my, and the habit of accumulation — let not, 
therefore, gentlemen be astonished that the 
North is radiant with railroads, whilst the 
South with more natural resources of wealth. 
follows an immeasurable distance behind. I 
shall not dwell upon the fact that all the 
educated mind is idle and unproductive, nor 
press the fact that idleness leads to crimes 
inr:umerable, and saps the founflations of mo- 
rality, whilst it necessarily induces physical 
destitution. The effects of slavery upon the 
temper, the afifections, and the moral sensi- 
bilities, are too painful to consider — 1 gladly 
pass them. 

With all these facts pressing upon my every 
movement, I am denounced, because I will 
not admit slavery to be a blessing, and re- 
i ceive more of it; and the gentleman, under- 
I takes to threaten me, and hold me responsible 
j to public opinion, for every word I may utter 
on this floor. Sir, 1 strike hands with the 
crentleman ; and when he admits that " while 
! labor is cheaper than slave labor,'" and that 
\ " slave labor, drives out white labor,'''' and de- 
clares, that " white labnrejs are slaves,^' in the 
name o^ Jive hundred thousand freemen of Ken- 
tucky,* I denounce the gentleman as warring 
upon their dearest interests, and as pursuing 
I a reckless policy that dries up their subsistence, 
! and outlaws and banishes them from, their native 
land.' a No sir, the gentleman — not I — is 
the defender of aristocrats. Let him tell us 
ao-ain, as we have been told before, that slave- 
ry stands in the way of education — let him 
be consistent — let him bring in a bill, as I am 
told he threatens to do, to abolish the com- 
mon school system — let hiin monopolize 
learning as well as wealth — let the people 
rest in deep ignorance for ever ; then they 
will never know their rights; and then only, 
may this law be repealed. 

Mr. Chairman, this is not the first time 
that I have heard the cry of abolitionism. It 
has no terrors to my ear. Bowie knives and 
belted pistols, and the imprecations of a mad- 
dened mob's vengeance, have not driven me 
from my country's cause. My blood, and 



* There are in round numbers 600,000 whites 
in Kentucky: — there cannot be one slaveholder in 
six — about one in ten is perhaps a true estimate. 



the blood of all whom I hold most dear, is 
ready when she calls for the sacrifice, hut I 
shall be a tame victim neither to force nor to 
denunciation; and whilst abolitionism mores 
in the North, backed by Holland, and Trance 
and Enjiland, and, if you please, urged on by 
a world in arms, there is in these United 
States a party still more dangerous to all that 
makes life desirable or liberty glorious. — 
Never, sir, till after the ever-memorable and 
impotent attempt of South Carolina to dis- 
solve this Union, did I hear or read of slave- 
ry as the only foundntion of human liberty. 
The messa^ic of CJovernor INIcDuflle has the 
bad eminence of having broached and set 
forth this monstrous and unheard of doctrine, 
that filled the whole civilized world with 
astonishment and dismay. A distinguished 
gentleman from Fayette, and the honorable 
member from Breckenridge, are the only 
avowed converts to this new religion that I 
have ever seen. I am bound to believe that 
the honorable member is not initiated into the 
greater mysteries of this modern sect — nay, 
sir, I will undertake to say that he is not: 
but standing here in my place, with a just 
sense of all the weighty responsibilities 
which rest upon me as a man, and as the 
representative of a gallant State, I declare 
that there is a party in this country, who, 
disregarding all the sacred memories of the 
past, and the yet glorious anticipations of 
the future, would for ever destroy the union 
of these Slates. They are the advocates of 
perpetual slavery — they are "the last state" 
iiullifiers, iuutkern unionists— \\\ey are the 
disunionisls. Conventions must be held, says 
South Carolina — conventions must be held, 
say some in Kentucky — conventions must be 
held, says the Governor of Alabama* — "the 
slave population must be diffused over all 
the slave States" — rules must bo adopted for 
mutual safety, and permanent security of 
slave property. Can any man in his senses, 

* Late message of the Governor of Alabama, 
and R. Wickliffe's speech. 



affect to misunderstand to what all this leads? 
I declare, sir, Kentucky is this day called 
upon to act — to take her stand now and for 
ever. I know not what course others may 
pursue, but, for my single self, 1 have made 
up my mind — " sink or swim, live or perish, 
I stand by the" Union. 

Shall we rest in fatal security till this law 
is repealed — iho slave population ditTused — 
conventions held — till we are shorn of our 
strength by calumny, and bound hand and 
foot, and given over by our leaders to this 
Southern Union? No. I lift up my voice 
now — here, in the face of all Kentucky, I do 
most solemnly protest as^uinst these Ircnsona- 
hlc schemes. 'I'he broad banner of the United 
States' constitution is my shield and only 
safely — tear not my State — let not, I imploro 
you, old Kentucky pass from under its hal- 
lowed panoply. Let it not be in vain that 
Adams, and Franklin, and Henry, and .Jeffer- 
son, and Madison, and Hamilton, have lived; 
not in vain that Washington, and Creene, 
and Lincoln, and Fayette, and heroes innu- 
merable, hoped, and bled, and died — not in 
vain that liberty has been proclaimed through- 
out the world, and the sunken spirits of mil- 
lions elevated by the cry of freedom ! Let 
not the treasure and blood which in the last; 
war — the second revolution — added fresh 
laurels to a " nation of brothers," have been 
spent in vain ! Let not Thames, and Erie, 
and Champlain, and New Orleans, rest in 
vain in the memories of men. By all the 
deep and inextinguishable yearnings of the 
immortal spirit for all that»is good and glori- 
ous, let not our hopes perish ! let not the 
Union be dissolved ! In the day of trial, 
there shall be one Kentuckian shrouded un- 
der the stars and stripes — one heart undcse- 
crated with the faith that slavery is the foun- 
dation of civil liberty — one being who could, 
not live in a government denying the right 
of petition, abolishing the liberty of the press, 
and the liberty of speech — one man who 
would not be the outlaw of nations — the slave 
of a slave! 



SPEECH OF MR. BIDDINGS, 

OF OHIO, 

Upon the proposition of Mr. Thompson, of South (hiroUna, to appro- 
priate one hundred thousand dollars for the removal, subsistence, 
and benefit of such of the Se7ninole chiefs and warriors as may sur- 
render for emis;ration. Delivered in the U. States House of Repre- 
sentatives, Feb. 9, 1S41. 



Mr. Giddings said he rose to congratulate i 
the country upon the prospect of bringing this 
unhappy war to a close. I am, (said he,) ! 
however, in some degree incredulous as toils 
speedy termination b)' the means proposed by 
tiie gentleman from South Carolina, (Mr. 
Thompson.) 

While 1 would go as far as any member to 
bring this war to an immediate close, I think 
it important that we should carefully examine 
the causes that brought it on; the reasons of 
its repeated renewal and continuation, in order 
that we may be able to adopt such measures 
as will ensure peace at the earliest possible 
moment. I think the plan proposed is de- 
fective in one particular; and before I lake 
my seat I intend to offer an amendment, 
which, in my opinion, will correct the omis- 
sion. 

This war has become a subject of deep in- 
terest to the people of the nation. It has con- 
tinued to occupy the attention of the govern- 
Jiuenl and the efforts of the army for more than 
five years. Our officers and soldiers have 
fallen victims to the climate, and to the hos- 
tile tribe with whom we have been contend- 
ing. Near forty millions of the national trea- 
sure have been swallowed up in this most 
uafortunate contest. The attention of our 
people has often been called to these facts ; 
while few, very kw of them have been fully 
informed as to the original exciting cause of 
this war, or the manner in which it has been 
renewed and conducted. Our army has been 
defeated, and I fear that our national honor 
has not remained altogether untarnished. — 
"Rumor, with her thousand tongues," has 
whisperedof transactions which, if real, ought 
to be known; if not, these rumors should be 
for ever silenced. The able speech of the 
gentleman from Vermont, over the way, (Mr. 
I'^verett,) in 183G, gave us some ideas of the 
manner in which the Indians with whom we 
are now contending were treated. Our own 
violations of the treaty with them, while we 
required a rigid observance on their part of all 
its terms, were clearly and ably expressed by 
him. It is not my intention to review our 
treaties with those Indians, or to speak of the 



manner in which those treaties were effected, 
or of the great injustice done to the Indians, 
except where these subjects have manifestly 
conduced to the disastrous war now under dis- 
cussion. It is, however, my purpose to call 
the attention of the committee to the causes 
which led to these hostilities; to that/?.'j/«ci,' 
v^hich has involved us in the vast sacrifice of 
life and treasure expended in Florida during 
the last five years; and to the effect which 
that policy has had upon the rigfits and the 
interests of the free. Slates. I also propose to 
examine, for a {ew minutes, the manner in 
which this war has been conducted, as well 
as the effect which the conduct of our high 
officers of government must have upon the 
feelings of the people of the free states, and 
upon the honor of our nation. In doing this, 
I intend to test the constitutionality of that 
policy, by those plain and fundamental prin- 
ciples of our government to which I think we 
must all yield assent. In claiming for my 
constituents and the state which I in part have 
the honor to represent, as well as for the free 
states generally, the rights and privileges 
which I think belong to them, and which I 
think should be held sacred by every officer 
of government, I shall rely upon n.o principle 
that has not been frequently asserted by the 
slave states, and by both of the great political 
parties. Indeed, I intend to assert no princi- 
ple but such as will command the assent of 
every member on this floor. 

I have made these preliminary remarks in 
order that the committee may the better un- 
derstand what I intend to say hereafter ; and 
having stated my premises, I will enter upon 
an investigation of the causes which led to 
the Florida war. Before I do this, however, 
I will take occasion to say that the lands oc- 
cupied by these Indians formed no induce- 
ment for us to enter upon this war. General 
Jessup says, "those lands would not pay tor 
the medicines used by our troops while em- 
ployed against the Indians." The Seminole 
Indians, by the treaty entered into at Payne's 
Landing, on the 9th May, A.D. 1832, agreed, 
to emigrate west of the Mississippi upon 
certain conditions. I shall not inquire whe- 



ther those conditions were performed on oui 
part, or whether the Indians were or were 
not morally bound to tlie observance of this 
stipulation. It is well known that thry re- 
fused to emirrrate. and lliat such refusal in- 
duced General Jackson to order the military 
force of the United Slates to Florida to com- 
pel them to emirrratc. Tliis attempted com- 
pulsion brought on the hoslililios, which still 
continue. The important question now pro- 
posed, and which I intend to answer, is, why 
did they refuse to emigrate? The answer, 
however, may be found in executive docu- 
ments of the -ilth Conffress, at its first ses- 
sion. (House doc. No. -271. p. 8,) in an offi- 
cial letter of Wiley Thompson, Indian agent, 
to William P. Duval, Governor of Florida, 
dated .lanuary 1, 1834, nearly a year previ- 
ous to the commencement of hostilities. 
Speaking of the unwillingness of the Indians 
to emigrate, Gru. Thompson says : " The 
principal causes which operate to cherish this 
feeling hostile to emigration are, first, the 
fear that their re-union with the Creeks, 
which will subject them to the governmeiit 
and control of the Creek national council 
will be a surrender of a large negro property, 
now lield by those people, to the Creeks, as 
an antagonist claimant." 

Thus, sir, we have official intelligence 
that X\\e principal cause of the war, was the 
fear of losing this " negro property." And 
we are led to inquire into the history of these 
conflicting claims to the " negro property" 
between the Creeks and Seminoles.' 

In the letter above quoted, Gen Thomp- 
son, speaking- further on the subject, says : 
"The Creek claim to negroes now in the I 
possession of the Seminole Indians, which is I 
supposed to be the first cause of hostility to 
the emigration of the latter tribe, grows out 
of the "treaty of 1821 between the United 
States and the former." We have now traced 
the original and principal cause of this war, 
as given by the Indian agent, to the treaty of 
Indian Spring, made on the 8th .January, 
1821. This is the official report of an ac- 
credited officer of Government, who had long 
mingled in the councils of the Indians, and 
who was most fainiliar with their view.*, and 
whose word, I presume was never doubted. 
I will now ask the attention of the committee 
for a moment, while I relate some of the his- 
torical facts that brought about this treaty 
of 1821. 

We are all aware that Indians frequently 
commit trespasses upon the property of their 
while neighbors. In 1802, ('ongress passed 
a law by which the people of (leorgia receiv- 
ed pay for all such trespasses committed sub- 
sequently by the Creek Indians, from the 
public treasure, and the amount thus paid was 
retained from the annuities or other moneys 
due the Indians. By the treaty of 1821, an 
attempt was made to obtain for the i)eoplc of 



Georgia, pay for slaves who had left their 
masters and taken up their residence with the 
Indians, prior to 1802 ; and an agreement was 
obtained from them, consenting that the Uni- 
ted States should pay to the people of Georgia 
the amount found due them for such losses 
prior to 1802, and retain the amount thus paid 
out of tiie money duo the Indians for the 
lands sold to the U. States; provided the sum 
thus found due should not exceed §250,000. 
The indemnity sought for the slaveholders of 
Georgia by this treaty, was for losses sus- 
tained twenty years prior to the treaty, and 
extending back an indefinite period. 

Under' this treaty the Creek Indians wore 
compelled to pay for slaves that had left their 
masters forty or fifty years prior to the date of 
the treaty. Nor were they compelled merely 
to pay for slaves that lived or had taken up 
their residence with the Indians; but they 
were charged for the value of the slave when 
shown to have left his master, without proof 
that he was with the Indians, or had any ex- 
istence in their country. I speak upon the 
authority of Mr. Wirt, late Attorney General, 
as expressed in Executive Doc. No. 12S, 1st 
session, 20th Congress. Nor were these 
abuses unaccompanied with others of equally 
flagrant character. Mr. Wirt, in the same 
commuiiicaiion, assures the President that the 
price allowed for a slave was Iwo nr three 
times his real value Yet, after paying for all 
the slaves that could be shown to have left 
their masters, at tin'> or three limes their real 
value, together with other property taken or 
destroyed by the Seminoles prior to 1805, it 
was found that the whole amounted to but 
$101,000, leaving in the hands of Government 
!j;I19,000 belonging to the Indians. This 
money, however, was not returned to the In- 
dians, but was retained by Government until 
1831. when the owners of fugitive slaves peti- 
tionedCongrcss thalit might be divided among 
them. Thi's petition was referred to the Com- 
mittee on Indian AfiTairs, and the chairman, 
an honorable mendier from Georgia, (Mr. 
Gilmer.) reported in favor of dividing the 
money among the owners of fugitive slaves, 
as a compensation for the offspring: which 
the slaies would have borne had they remain- 
ed in hondai^c. This plan, which I think 
sets at perfect defiance all Yankee calcu- 
lations, was rejected by Congress. But a 
bill was subseipiently introduced, providing 
for a division of this money among the own- 
ers of those slaves by way of interest, in di- 
rect violation of the treaty, and notwithstand- 
ing they had previously received two or three 
times the real value of their slaves; and this 
bill soon passed into a law. This was done 
in 1834. These slaves had most of them 
united with the Seminoles or runaways in the 
peninsula of Forida, and the Creeks, (Irom 
whom the Seminoles had formerly separated) 
having paid to llic people of Georgia two or 
2 



10 



thlree times the value of those slaves, now 
claimed them as their property. The Creeks 
had mostly gone west of the Mississippi, and 
their agents were in Florida demanding these 
negroes of the Seminoles. The Seminoles, 
in the mean time, it is said, had intermarried 
with the negroes, and stood connected with 
them in ail the relations of domestic life. If 
they emigrated west, their wives and children 
would be taken from them by the Creeks as 
slaves; if they remained in Florida, they 
must defend themselves against the army of 
the United States. With them, sir, it was 
war on one side, and slavery on the other. — 
This state of things was entirely brought 
about by the efforts of our Government to 
obtain pay for the fugitive slaves of Georgia. 

This interference of the Federal Govern- 
ment in behalf of slavery in Georgia, appears 
to have been the origin of all our Florida dif- 
ficulties. 

[Mr. Warren, of Georgia, called Mr. Gid- 
dings to order on the ground of irrelevancy. 

The Chairman, Mr. Clifford, of Maine, 
decided that the remarks of Mr. Giddings 
respecting the origin of the Florida war were 
in order; and Mr. G. proceeded.] 

I think this interposition of our Federal 
Government unconstitutional and improper, 
and will assij;n the reasons of that opinion. 

[Mr. Habersham, of Georgia, called Mr. 
Giddings to order, and stated that the gentle- 
man from Ohio had intimated his intention to 
offer an amendment to the proposition before 
the House, and was proceeding to make a 
speech pretty freely interlarded \\\i\\ abolition 
while the committee were yet uninformed as 
to the terms of the amendment he intended to 
offer. 

Mr. Habersham desired to hear the amend- 
ment, ] 

Mr. Giddings resumed. I arose, Mr. 
Chairman, to discuss the Florida war, and I 
intend doing so, and cannot be drawn off 
upon any collateral points, nor frightened 
from it by the cry of abo/ition. 

I will, however, say to the gentleman from 
Georgia that I have not said, nor do 1 intend 
saying, one word upon the subject of uboli- 
iinn, although I may perhaps touch upon the 
doctrine of Slate rights and strict construction. 

I hold that if the slaves of Georgia or any 
other State leave their masters, the Federal 
Governnipnt has no constitutional authority 
to employ our army or navy for their recap- 
ture, or to apply the national treasure to re- 
purchase Iht^ni. We possess no constitution- 
al power to do either. If, however, gentle- 
men of the South, who hold to a strict and 
rigid construction of that instrument, will 
point me to the clause of our constitution 
containing such authority, 1 will confess my 
obligations to them. Such power would ne- 
cessarily include the power to tax the free 
States to an indefinite extent for the support 



of slavery, and for arresting every fu- 
gitive slave who 'has fled from his master, 
within the ^several Slates of this Union. 
Such power I deny most distinctly and em- 
phatically. But, sir, we have as much right 
to do thi • directly as we have to do it indirect. 
If/. We have as much power to employ our 
army and navy in recapturing fugitive slaves 
as we have to make a treaty with the Indians 
to retake such fugitives, and then employ 
our army and navy to compel the Indians to 
do it. We have as much power to tax the 
free States, and apply the money directly for 
the purchase of fugitive slaves, as we have 
to tax them to carry on a war for the purpose 
ol compelling the surrender of such slaves ; 
or even to apply the national treasure to the 
holding of such treaties. In truth, sir, we 
have no power z«/iaiei'e/- over the subject or in- 
stitution of slavery luithin the several States 
of this Union. We have neither the power 
to sustain nor abolish it, to create or destroy it. 
I mean sir, that we have no such powers de- 
legated to us for any purpose whatever. We 
have not the power to sustain it in the South 
or establish it in the North. I know it is 
said, and repeated, and asserted, that a por- 
tion of the people of the States hold that we 
have power to abolish slavery tn the States. I 
can only say that 1 have never met with any 
intelligent man who has advanced such doc- 
trine in my hearing. For my own part, I 
believe we have as much power to establish 
slavery in the free States as we have to abolish 
it in the slave States. I say nothing of the 
constitutional power of Congress over the 
slave trade between the States. But, Mr. 
Chairman, I am not willing to believe that 
any gentleman on this floor will urge the 
right of taxing the freemen of the North for 
the holding in slavery the colored men at the 
South. 

1 would not use those distinctions of North 
and South, could I avoid them. Yet I think 
no apology is due from me on this point, as I 
have constantly heard Uiem used, and repeat- 
ed, and reiterated by gentlemen from a cer- 
tain portion of the Union, during the three 
years I have had a seat in this hall. 

But, sir, I wish further to look into this 
power, or rather the want of power, in Con- 
gress over slavery within the States of this 
Union. In December, A. D. 1838, the gen- 
tleman from New Hampshire (Mr. Atlier- 
ton) introduced to this House, a resolution 
expressing the sense of the House in regard 
to this power. 

[The Chairman informed Mr. Giddings 
that the discussion of those resolutions would 
not be in order.] 

I had, Mr. Chairman, no idea of discussing 
those resolutions. I merely refer -to one of 
them as expressing the views of the North 
and of the South on this subject. It speaks 
ihe voice of all the hundred and ninety-eight 



u 



members who voted for it. It reads as follows: 
" Resolved, That lliis Government is a Go- 
vernment of limited powers: that by tiie con- 
stitution of the United Slates, it has no pow- 
er whatever over the institution of slavery 
in the several states of this Union." This 
resolution received llio almost unanimous 
support of this Mouse. There was one hun- 
dred and ninety-eight votes in favor of it, and 
but six against it. I voted for it myself, be- 
cause I deemed it correct. Kvery member 
from the slave states voted for it. 1 shall be 
slow to suspect that any of those gentlemen 
will now changre iheir position, and say that 
we have power to sustain slavery; and that 
in voting for the resolution, they only intend- 
ed to say that we have no power whatever 
over the subject to abolish it. I am aware 
Mr. Chairman, that the Federal Government 
has ai times interposed its influence to obtain 
for the citizens of slave states, compensation 
for slaves taken by Indian tribes and Great 
Britiaii. But this fact furnishes no argument 
against the position I have assumed. The 
cases alluded to were merely the act of the 
Executive, interposed by common consent, 
without discussion or objection, for the pur- 
pose of obtaining from such tribe or govern- 
ment a compensation which we have uniform- 
ly refused when demanded of ourselves; for I 
believe it to be well understood, that we have 
never, in any instance, paid the owner for 
the loss of a slave, even when such slave 
was pressed into the public service, and 
killed while thus in the employ of the go- 
vernment. The Florida war havinjr its ori- 
gin in attempts on the part of the Federal go- 
vernment to sustain slavery in one of the 
States of this Union, is so far unconstitution- 
al, and is directly opposed to the doctrine 
contained in the resolution above quoted, 
which received the unanimous support of the 
slave states. 

And now, having called the attention of the 
committee to the remote and principal cause 
of this war, I will ask Iheir attention to some 
of the more proximate and immediate causes. 
On the 21st of May, 1836, this house adopted 
a resolution calling upon the then President, 
for " information respecting the cause of the 
Florida war." On the .3d of .lune, the Presi- 
dent transmitted to the house sumlry papers 
relating to that snbjpct; among which may 
be found an address or petition of nearly one 
hundred gentlemen, said to be among the 
principal inhabitants of Florida, calling on 
the President to interpose the power of the 
General (Jovernment for the purpose of se- 
curing tihem in the possession of their slaves. 
These gmtlemen, speaking of the Seminole 
Indians, say : " While this indomitabhi peo- 
ple continue where they now are, the owners 
of slavcsiuourTerritory, and even in the slates 
contiguous, cannot for a moment, in any thing 
like security, enjoy this kind of property." 



This was a plain, direct, and palpable re- 
quest for the President to interpose the strong 
arm of the nation in behalf of slavery. Nor 
did the President remain ibraf to such request; 
but he immediately endorsed an order on the 
back of the petition, directing the Secretary 
at War to make inquiry, and if the charges 
were found true, " to direct the Indians to 
prepare forthwith to remove west of the Mis- 
sissippi." Soon after this, the treaty of 
Payne's Landing, having remained nearly 
two years unnoticed by the President, was 
sent to the Senate for iheir sanction; and 
every preparation was made to compel the 
Indians, by |)liysical force, to remove west of 
the Mississppi. A correspondence was car- 
ried oil with the officers of our army; and all 
the military force that could be brought to 
Florida was concentrated there, for the i)ur- 
pose of compelling the Indians at the point of 
the bayonet, to emigrate. This was done 
without even laying the subject before Con- 
gress, or asking for any legislative sanction. 

It is not my intention to enlarge on this 
point, or to comment upon this very extraor- 
dinary interposition of executive influence in 
favor of slavery, without constitutional or le- 
gitimate sanction. Neither have I time to 
comment upon the manner in which the treaty 
of Payne's Landing was obtained from the 
Indians; nor upon the terms of that extraor- 
dinary treaty; nor upon the still more extra- 
ordinary method of enforcing the Indians to 
an observance of the compa(;t, by the use of 
the bayonet, without consulting the legisla- 
tive authority, in defiance of justice and with- 
out precedent. But I desire to examine into 
the causes of this war, and discover how far 
it has had its origin in attempts by the Ex- 
ecutive to support and maintain slavery at the 
natio-ial expense, and in violation of the rights 
of the free states. In doing this, I shall 
speak from no vague conjecture, or uncertain 
suspicion; but what 1 say shall be "from the 
book;" from docuinentary evidence and ofTi- 
cial reports. 

The address to which I have called the at- 
tention of the committee, estimates the num- 
ber of negroes among the Seminole Indians 
at that lime, at more than five hundred ; and 
they declare it as their belief that four-fiflhs 
of them are fu^iiive slaves. On the 20ih of 
January, 18:M. Govflrnor Duval, in a letter to 
the Commissioner of Indian Air^irs, says: 
"The slaves belonging to the Indians, have 
a controling influence over the minds of their 
masters, and are entirely opposed to any 
change of residence. It will be best at once 
to adopt firm and decided measures; such as 
will demonstrate to the Indians the determi- 
nation of Government to see the treaty justly 
and fairly executed. Tfiis ruimol tie dune 
until tlic liaiids of tmtlawti i^fuirilive slaves, J 
mentioned in the agent^s rrporl, (ire arrested 
and broken up ,- for so long as tliey are permit- 



12 



ied to remain, every Indian that is unwilling to 
emigrate will seek their protection" No man, 
perhaps, possessed belter knowledge of these 
facts than Governor Duval, who assures us 
that the negroes controlled the Indians, and 
that the Indians sought the protection and 
support of the fugitive slaves. He further 
assures us that nothing could be done while 
tliose fugitive slaves were permitted to re- 
main in Florida. If gentlemen will bear this 
advice in mind, they will better understand 
the policy that subsequently guided our army 
against the Indians. 

In a letter dated January 26, 1834, Gover- 
nor Duval says : " The slaves belonging to the 
Indians must be made to fear for themselves be- 
fore they will cease to injiuence the minds of 
their musters.'''' "Fou may be assured (says 
he) that the first step towards the emigration 
of these Indians must be the breaking up of 
the runaioay slaves and Indians.'^ Thus we 
are informed that the war must be first waged 
against the/a^(7«'e slaves. Perhaps 1 ought 
to explain that slavery among the Indians 
is very different from what it is among the 
whites. It^is comparative independence. 
Hence the slaves of the Indians have a per- 
fect horror of slavery among the white peo- 
ple. Of course the fugitive slaves and the 
Indian slaves become intimate friends, and 
act in concert for the liberty of all. 

[E. Campbell, of South Carlonia, called 
Mr. Giddings to order, and stated that the 
member from Ohio was evidently assailing 
indirectly an insiiuuion which, by the rules 
of the House was not liable to be assailed. 

The Chairman said tV\at the gentleman 
from Ohio had expressed his intention to 
discuss ihe Florida war, and he had under- 
stood the remarks as having reference to that 
subject. The chair could not attribute a dif- 
ferent motive from that expressed hy a gen- 
tleman himself. I am (said he) ihereTore 
constrained to say the gentleman from Ohio 
is in order.] 

Mr. Giddings resumed. I was not aware 
Mr. Chairman, that our rules protected from 
discussion any institution whatever. I will, 
however, assure the gentleman from South 
Carolina that I shall only allude to the sub- 
ject of slavery so far as it stands connected 
with the Florida war. — 'I'hat so far as it has 
been the means of drawing forty millions of 
dollars from the public Treasury, and^ most 
of it from the free States, I intended to assail 
it, and no further. Governor Duval says, 
"these slaves must first be made to fear "for 
themselves. " The war was first to be waged 
against slaves, for the reason that they influ- 
enced the minds of their masters in favor of 
liberty. In other words, the war must be 
directed against tiip right of a slave to ex- 
press his mind to his Indian master on the sub- 
ject of human rights. Sir, these slaves were 
made to fear for themselves in pursuance of | 



these intimations of Governor Duval, as I 
will now endeavor to show this committee. 
On the 28th October, 1834, General Thomp- 
son, in 3 letter addressed to the Commission- 
er of Indian Affairs says: " There are many 
very likely negroes in this nation, (Seminole.) 
Some of the whites in the adjacent settle- 
ments manifest a restless desire to obtaia 
them, and I have no doubt that Indian raised 
negroes are now in possession of the whites." 
Thus, sir, it seems that kidnapping was not 
unknown in that country. This same Gene- 
ral Thompson, the accredited officer of this 
Government, on the 9th January, 1835, ad- 
vises Government, that an expedition should 
be set on foot for the double purpose of driv- 
ing the Indians within the boundary and to 
capture negroes, many of who it is believed 
are runaway slaves." And, sir, our army 
was put in motion to capture negroes and 
slaves as we shall find in the sequel. But I 
wish to call the attention of the committee 
for a few moments to the manner in which 
these slaves in the words of Governor Duval, 
were "made to fear for themselves." On 
the 28lh July, 1835, John Walker, one of the 
Appalachicola chiefs belonging to the Semi- 
nole band, wrote to General Thompson, Indian 
agent as follows: "I am (says he) induced 
to write you in consequence of the depreda- 
tions making, and attempted to be made, 
npon my property, by a company of negro 
stealers, some of whom are from Columbus, 
Georgia, and have connected themselves with 
Brown and Douglass. I should like your 
advice how 1 am to act. I dislike to make 
any trouble or to have any difficult with any 
of the white people. But if they trespass 
upon my premises and my rights, I must de- 
fend myself in the best way I can. If they 
do make this attempt, and I have no doubt 
they will, they must bear the consequences. 
But is there no civil law to protect me? Are 
the free negroes and the negroes belonging in 
this town to be stolen away publicly, and, in 
the face of all law and justice, earned off" and 
sold to fill the pockets of those worse than 
LAND PIRATES. Douglass aud his company 
hired a man who has two large trained 
DOGS for the purpose, to come down and take 
Billey. He is from Mobile, and follows for a 
livelihood catching runaway negroes." ' 

This, sir, is the language of a savage, ad- 
dressed to his civilized neighbors. He call- 
ed in vain for protection. A few days after 
the date of this letter, he was robbed of all 
his negroes : so says the report of the United 
States attorney, addressed to the Secretary of 
War, and dated April 21, 183G. But of the 
number of freemen kidnapped at the same 
lime, we are not informed. At all events, 
" the slaves were made to fear for them- 
selves," as Governor Duval advised. Can 
we wonder that those Indians were driven to 
acts of desperation? 



13 



Here, sir, is the first menlion I have met 
of the use of " bloodhounds" in the Florida 
war. Tiiey were used by " negro stealers." 
for ihrt purpose of catchinfj the colored peo- 
ple of Florida, and our ollicers have copied 
the example. But I intend givinor further 
examples of the use of bloodhounds before 1 
close. 1 have, however, no time for commeni. 
My object is to place facts before the people 
of this nation, and let every man make his 
own comments, and draw his own conclu- 
sions. I will give one more example of the 
mode of " teaching slaves to tear for them- 
selves." E-con-phattimico was also an In- 
dian chief of the Semi.ioic band, liviiijj upon 
the Appalachicola liver, and was perhaps one 
who siijned the treaty at Camp Moultrie in 
1833, by which we solemnly pledged the 
faith of this nation to protect the Indians in 
the enjoyment of their lives and property. 
This chief is said to have owned twenty 
slaves, valued at $15,000. These negro 
stpalers were seen hoverinj around his plan- 
tation, and their object could not be misun- 
derstood. By the advice of the suij-agrent, 
he armed himself and people for the purpose 
of defending themselves. When the negro 
stealers learned that E-con-chattimico's peo- 
ple had armed themselves in defence of their 
liberty, (for they considered Indian slavery 
liberty, compared with white slavery,) they 
raised a report that the Indians had armed 
themselves for the purpose of uniting with 
the hostile Seminoles, and murdering- the 
while people. On learning this, Econ-chat- 
timico at once delivered up his arms to the 
white people, and threw himself upon their 
protection. Disarmed and unable to defend 
his people, they were immediately kidnapped, 
taken off and sold into interminable bondage. 
E-con-chatlimico now calls on us to pay him 
for the loss he has sustained in the violation 
of our treaty, in which we solemnly cove- 
nanted to protect him and his properly. Rob- 
bed, abused, insulted, and deceived, he emi- 
grated to the West, and now looks to us for 
a redress of the wrongs he has sustained. 
I give the substance of his statement, as re- 
lated by him in his petition, and communica- 
ted by General Thom|)son, Governor Duval, 
and the District Attorney of East Florida, 
and sworn to by several witnesses. 

But, sir, this transaction, and others equal- 
ly abusive, were soon known throughout 
Florida. The Indians and negroes were thus 
admonished of the necessity of uniting their 
efforts and energies in defence of their libeny 
and lives. Governor Duval, speaking of this 
transaclion, in a letter to the Secretary of 
War, dated the 23d of May, says, "il was 
an outrage well calculated to rouse tiie In- 
dians to hostility." These are the acts that 
have led us on, step by step, until we have 
found ourselves in the midst of a most disas- 
trous war. 



The men who comtnitted these robberies, 
and kidnapped these negroes, were well 
known, for the acts were committed in open 
day ; their names and places of residence are 
distinctly mentioned : but 1 have yet to learn 
that any one of them has been punished in 
any manner for this warfare against the lib- 
erty of the blacks and the rights of the In- 
dians. Indeed it seems to have been an ob- 
ject with some of the officers employed in 
Florida, to induce Government itself to enter 
into the business of capturing and selling 
slaves. J. -W. Harris, disbursing agent o( 
(Jovernment. in a letter to iho Commissioner 
General of Subsistence, dated December 30, 
183(5, says: "I would respectfully suggest 
that yon recommend to the honourable Secre- 
tary of War that the annuity due to the hos- 
tile Indians bo retained to defray the expenses 
of this war; and that the slaves who shall 
be captured, whom I believe to have been 
generally active instigators (o our present 
troubles, be sold at public sale, and the pro- 
ceeds appropriated to the same object." This 
is the first official proposition that has come 
to my knowledge, for the Government to enter 
into competition with the " negro stealers," 
by capturing and selling slaves. At the time 
this suggestion was made, we were engaged 
in open war with these people, who had 
sought liberty in the wilds of Florida, If 
they were captured, ihey would be prisoners 
of war; and for us to sell them as slaves, 
would be as much a violation of our national 
honor, as it would have been for them to have 
sold, as slaves, such of our people as they 
were able to capture. 

1 may perhaps be permitted to remark, that 
among the people of the tree States nothino- 
is regarded with so much disgust and ab° 
horrence as the buying and selling of men, 
women, and children, and that this feeling 
is common among all classes and all political 
parties. 

Mr. Chairman, I have called the attention 
of the committee to what is officially an- 
nounced as the first and principal cause of 
this war, and also to some of the proximate 
and immediate causes. I think no man can 
doubt that it originated in the attempts of the 
Executive to support slavery by the influence 
and efforts of our National Government, in 
violation, as I think, of the constitution and 
of the rights of the Free Stales. I propose 
to investigate the subject a little further, and 
to examine into the cause that led to its re- 
newal and continuance. 

On the Gth day of March, 1837, General 
Jessup entered into a conventional arrange- 
ment with the Seminole Indians, by which 
it was agreed that hostilities should imme- 
diately cease; that the Indians should emi- 
grate west of the Mississippi; and that they 
should be secure in their lives and property — 
and "that negroes their bona fide property," 



14 



should accompany ihem. By the terms of 
this compact, no negroes were included ex- 
cept those who were called the " bona fide 
property" of the Indians, although Governor 
Duval, General Jessup, and the Indian agent 
all unite in saying that the Indians were con- 
trolled by the blacks. These blacks com- 
prised both fugitive slaves and free people of 
color, who were connected with the Indians 
by marriage and consanguinity. The attempts 
to separate them appear to me to have been 
hopeless. 

The Indian who had married a fugitive, 
and reared a family of children, would not, 
in my opinion, quietly fold his arms and view 
his offspring and their mother marched off 
into interminable slavery, while himself 
should go west. Nor do I believe that will 
ever be done. They are all the enemies of 
our country, fighting in arms against us. 
They have already cost us much treasure and 
the blood of many freemen. If they surren- 
der, they surrender themselves prisoners of 
war. I would send them all west together. 
No person can doubt our perfect right to do 
so ; and 1 think justice to the nation and to 
the Indians requires it — and my amendment 
will be to that effect. General Jessup's at- 
tempt to separate them failed, and I believe 
all further attempts of that kind will fail. 

This compact between General .lessup and 
the Int^ians bears date on the 6ih March. On 
the 18th of the same month, a solemn remon- 
strance against this arrangment was signed 
by a number of gentlemen of high standing 
in Florida, and transmitted to the Secretary 
of War. — These gentlemen totally objected 
to any pacification that did not provide for 
the re-capture of their fugitive slaves. They 
objected to the Indians going west until they 
should take and return to their owners the 
slaves who had escaped from their rijaslers in 
Florida. The remonstrance may be found at 
55th page of executive document of the 
Hoi\se of Representatives, No. 225, of the 3d 
session of the 25tb Congress. It is an inter- 
esting paper but of too great length for me 
to read at this time, it shows, in a most 
palpable light, the views entertained by those 
gentlemen in regard to the cause and object 
of this war. Whatever others may have 
thought upon that subject, it is clear that 
they supposed the war to have been com- 
menced and carried on for the purpose of aid- 
ing them in holding their slaves — and they 
declare it incompatible with the honor and 
dignity of the nation to permit the Indians to 
emigrate until they shall bring ihe slaves 
back to their owners. I have no doubt they 
felt that they were correct in their views— 
nor do I believe they entertained a doubt of 
the justice and propriety of taxing the free 
States to any extent in support of slavery. — 
There was, however, a cessation of hostili- 
ties, notwithstanding these remonstrances. 



The Indians ceased for a time to plunder the 
defenceless families of Florida, to burn their 
cabins, and murder the defenceless women 
and children — but, sir, the fugitive slaves re- 
mained yet hidden in the swamps and ever- 
glades of that untraversed country. Peace on 
such terms appears to have been unaccepta- 
ble to the people of Florida. I will not speak 
the conclusions of my own mind, however, 
on this subject, but will give you the words 
of a high officer of government, who was on 
the spot, and who spoke from positive know- 
ledge. I refer to General .lessup, who, in a 
letter dated 29th March, 1837, and directed 
to Colonel John Warren, speaking of the 
anxiety of the Indians to maintain tiie peace 
agreed upon says : "There is no disposi- 
tion on the part of the great body of the In- 
dians to renew hostilities; and they will, I 
am sure, faithfully fulfil their engagements, 
if the inhabitants be prudent. But any at- 
tempt to seize their negroes or other property 
would be followed by an immediate resort 
to arms," 

Thus we have the authority of (General 
Jessup for saying that the Indians were anx- 
ious to maintain peace. That he was at the 
same time apprehensive that the people 
would attempt to seize the Indian negroes, I 
know not. He certainly exhibited fears on 
the subject. For, on the 5th April, being 
seven days subsequent to this letter to Colo- 
nel Warren, we find that he issued a genera! 
order in the following words : " The Com- 
manding General has reason to believe that 
the interference of unprincipled white men 
with the negro property of the Seminole In- 
dians, if not immediately checked, will pre- 
vent their emigration, and lead to a renewal 
of hostilities." 

The order goes on to prohibit any person 
not connected with the public service from 
entering upon the territory assigned to the 
Indians. In this order we have official in- 
telligence that the whites did in fact inter- 
fere with the Indian slaves, or, in other 
words, they began to rob the Indians of their 
slaves almost as soon as the hostilities ceas- 
ed. As to the outrages committed upon the 
the free blacks during tlie suspension of hos- 
tilities we have no information in this order, 
and are left to infer the course pursued to 
wards them from the evidence I have previ- 
ously given. If these people were sufficient- 
ly rapacious to rob the Indians of their ne- 
groes under such circumstances, it is easy to, 
form an opinion as to the safely of the free 
colored people found with the Indians. How 
many of them, if any, were made slaves, we 
know not. On the 18lh April, twelve days 
after the date of his letters to Colonel War- 
ren, General Jessup wrote to Governor Call, 
saying : " If the citizens of the Territory be 
prudtnt. the war may be considered at an 
end. But any attempt to interfere with the 



15 



Luliiin negroes would cause an immediate re- 
sort to hostilities. The negroes control their 
masters, and they have heard of the act ol' 
your leoislaiive council. Thirty or more ul 
the Indian neorro men were at and near my 
camp on the VViihlacoochie late in March. 
Hut the arrival of two or three citizens of 
Florida, said to be in search ol netrroes, 
caused them to disperse at once, and 1 doubt 
whetiier they will come in again. At all 
events, the emigration will be delayed a 
month, 1 apprehend, in consequence of the 
alarm of these negroes." 

The embarrassment into which General 
Jessiip was thrown is quite apparent, not- j 
withstanding his order of the 5th April. The [ 
people were anxious to hunt for slaves. 'I'he 
negroes, it would seem, were under constant! 
apprehension, and fled when a slave catcher 
came into their vicinity. Whether the In-j 
dian negroes had cause for that fear, we are ' 
unable lo judge, except from the document 
before us. Between the Indians and our ar- i 
my, it appears there was no difficulty what- 
ever, liut the difTiculty appears to have been 
between the Indians and negroes on one 
side, and those who sought to rob the In- 
dians and enslave the blacks on the other. It , 
is also quite evident thai some of the peoj)le j 
of Florida were restless under the order of | 
the 5iU of April, prohibiting thern from en- j 
lering the Indian country. When intelli-j 
gence respecting that order reached St. Au- I 
gustine, it seems a public meeting was call- | 
ed and a committee appointed to procure its i 
repeal, in order that the white people might j 
enter the Indian country for the purpose of \ 
seizing slaves. \ 

This committee, said to be composed of' 
men of high standing, addressed a long letter 
to Gen. Jessup, in which they say, speaking 
of the people ot Florida; "While they be° 
lieve that the accomplishment of a certain pa- 
cification must, ao it ought, be an object of i 
primary importance in these negotiations, they ! 
persuade themselves that the preservation of 
the negro property belonging to the inhabi- 
tants ot this desolated country, must be seen 
by him to be an object of scarcely less mo- 
ment." It is a most undeniable fact, bo.'ue ' 
out by every part of these official documents, 
that the people of Florida supposed that the 
great object of the war was to aid the slave- \ 
holders in capturing and recovering their 
slaves. This same protest goes on to recount 
facts in regard to their slaves havinor run 
away, and finding a place of refuge in the In- 
dian country, and the concluding of an 
armistice by General Jessup, without getting 
their slaves back, and then the signers add": 
" Against such a course, a course so destruc- 
tive of their rights and interests, the citizens 
of !St. Augustine, and others, in public meci- 
ing assembled for themselves and on behalf 
of the inhabitants of Fast Florida generally, 



do most solemnh/ protest.'" This, <?ir, is tlic 
solemn protest of the citizens of I'iorida 
ag;iinst any cessation of hostilities upon other 
terms than that (f getting bur/,- their s/iircs, 
or rather of permitting them to enter the In- 
dian country to obtain their slaves. The hor- 
ror with which the negroes, both Indian 
slaves and free blacks, regarded those who 
came within their territory for the purpose of 
catching slaves is shown by the letter of Ge- 
neral Jessup, just quoted, in which he states 
that thirty Indian negroes, in and about his 
camp, at once runaway when they heard that 
two men were in quest of slaves. 

With these ))eople, the great, important, 
and absorbing subject appears to have been 
slaves, not peace. Indeed, we have their 
solemn protest against extinguishing the 
flames of war, or stopping the torrent of 
blood which had so long flowed, until they 
should have their slaves secured to them. — 
They were unwilling that the treasure of the 
nation should cease to be poured out until they 
should have their fellow men brought back to 
bondage. 

But, sir, I should fatigue the committee too 
much were I to refer to a tenth part of the docu- 
mentary evidence which I huve before me on this 
subject, or to that |)art which goes Ui prove the 
attempts of our government officers lo get back 
the slaves who had escaped from their masters ; 
or the manner in which that object entered into 
the plans of the War Department. Nor have I 
time to give any considerable portion of the evi- 
dence showing how, this object of capturing 
slaves and supporting slavery entered into the de- 
signs, and was carried out in the movements of 
the army. The time which may reasonably be 
claimed by me will only permit me to glance at 
the subject, and to lay before this committee and 
the people of this nation a small portion of the 
facts which I wish I were able to present to them. 
Ft will be sufficient, in this place to remark, that 
immediately after these protestations against peace 
— these official commmunications showing that 
the Indians had no desire to renew the war, and 
that the only danger to be apprehended was the 
unlawful interference by the people of Florida 
with the Indian negroes, the tlames of war were 
again lighted up; our troops were again put in 
motion; the treasury of our nation was again 
placed under contribution ; and the blood of de- 
fenceless women and helpless children again flow- 
ed, in order, as it api)ears, that slaveholders might 
recover their slaves. I speak, sir, from official 
(hicumentari/ eviilcnce. These facts and those 
which I intend to refer to arc on record in the ar- 
chives of our nation, and will descend in all com- 
ing time to give character to this unholy war. 

It would appear, from the perusal of the docu- 
ments before me, that General Jessup was unable 
to fulfil his covenant with the Indians, to protect 
them, and the negroes connected with them ; but 
on this point we have no direct cvidciicc. Cer- 
tain it is, that he was unable to bring the negroes 
to terms of submission. I use the term negroes, 



16 



bccanso he says, officially, that " the negroes con- 
trolled the Indians." Being unable to subdue 
the enemy, his troops falling a prey to the un- 
healthy ciimate in which he was situated, the citi- 
zens being murdered, their habitations burned, 
and his army discouraged, he issued the order No. 
160, to which I will now call the attention of the 
committee. That part to which I particularly re- 
fer is in the following words : " All Indian pro- 
perty captui ed from this date will belong to the 
corps or detachment taking it." The sense in 
which the terra property was used in this order is i 
fully explained in a letter of General Jessup to i 
Colonel Warren, dated a few days subsequent, in 
which, speaking of the Seminoles, he says : — 
" Their negroes, cattle, and horses, will belong to 
the corps by which ihey are captured." This or- 
der bears date the 3d of August, 1837, and may 
be found at page 4 of the documents communicat- 
ed to this House by the Secretary of War on the 
27th day of February, 1839. I think that history 
•will record this as the first general order issued by 
the commander of an American army in which 
the catching of slaves is held out as an incentive 
to military duty. I mention this fact, and bring 
it to the consideration of the committee with feel- 
ings of deep mortification. As an American, I 
feel humbled at this act, which cannot be viewed 
by the civilized world as otherwise than dishonor- 
able to our arms and nation. That this officer, 
entrusted with the command of our army and the 
honor of our flag, should appeal to the cupidity, 
the desire of plunder, and the worst of human 
passions, in order to stimulate his men to effort, is 
I think, to be regretted by men of all parties, in 
all sections of our country. Our national fiagj 
which floated in proud triumph at Saratoga, which 
was enveloped in a blaze of glory at Monmouth 
and Yorktown, seems to have been prostituted in 
Florida to the base purpose of leading on an or- 
ganized company of "negro catchers." Sir, no 
longer is " our country" the battle cry of our army 
in their advance to victory; but "slaves" has be- 
come the watchward to inspire them to effort. — 
No longer does the war-worn veteran, amid the 
battle's rage, think of his country's glory, and 
nerve his arm in behalf of freedom ; but with 
eagle eyes he watches the wavering ranks of the 
enemy, and as the smoke rises from the battle- 
field, he plunges amid their fleeting cohorts to seize 
upon the sable foe that he may make him his fu- 
ture slave. 

But 1 intend to pursue this subject further. I 
shall now show that this Government — this na- 
tion, composed of twenty-six States, some holding 
slaves, and some denying the right of man to hold 
his fellow man in slavery — has been made to deal 
in slaves ; to become the owner of slaves; that 
this administration, now just going out of power, 
has dfealt in " human flesh;" that the funds of go- 
vernment, drawn from the pockets of free laborers, 
have been paid for the capture of fugitive slaves, 
and for the purchase of slaves captured from the 
Seminole Indians. And for that purpose I refer 
to order No. 175, dated at Tampa Bay, September 
5, 1837. It reads as follows: 

"1. The Seminole negroes captured by the army 



will be taken on account of the Government, 
and held subject to the order of the Secretary of 
War. 

"2. The sum of eight thousand dollars will be 
paid to the Creek chiefs and warriors, by whom 
they were captured, or who were present at the 
capture, in full for their claim to them. 

" 3. To induce the Creek Indians to take alive 
and not destroy the negroes of citizens who had 
been captured by the Seminoles, a reward was 
promised them for all they should secure. They 
captured and secured thirty-five, who have been 
returned to their owners. The owners have paid 
nothing, but the promise to the Indians must be 
fulfilled. The sum of twenty dollars will be 
allowed to them for each from the public funds. 

" 4. Lieutenant Searle is charged with the exe- 
cution of this order." 

This order, taking the negroes " on account of 
Government," bears date on the 6th Sept. From 
that time they were to be "held subject to the 
order of the Secretary of War." On the 7th Oc- 
tober this order of General .lessup was approved by 
the honorable Secretary of War, as may be seen 
by reference to page 43 of the document just 
quoted. Thus, sir, we have official documentary^ 
evidence that the people of this nation, in their 
national capacity, became the " purchasers of 
human beings." The money of our people, of 
freemen of this nation, was paid for the purchase 
of slaves. 

This fund, most of it collected in the free States, 
and coming from the earnings o( free ivhites, was 
appropriated for the purchase of Indian slaves ; 
and of those who had sought freedom amid the 
swamps and everglades of Florida, while our most 
vital interests at the North are abandoned, and 
even the implements necessary to carry on our 
harbor improvements have been sold, and the 
money thus obtained placed in the common fund, 
and, perhaps, paid for the purchase of these slaves 
at the South. I hear it said, in an undertone near ,| 
me, that the purchase of these fugitive slaves was J 
justifiable and correct, I may differ with the I 
gentleman as to the justice or honor of that pro- 
ceeding; but I cannot enter into that subject at 
this time. I would merely say, if the slaveholders 
wish to have their slaves repurchased, I desire j 
them to furnish the funds, Mr. Chairman, and 
not thrust their hands into the pockets of our 
constituents and mine to obtain the money to pay 
them. J 

(Mr. Black, of Georgia, desired to be informed 
whether the member from Ohio alluded to the 
citizens of Georgia }) 

Mr. Giddings resumed. I deny the right of j 
the members to interrupt me for the purpose of J 
inquiring whether I alluded to //<£/«, or to their | 
constituents. If the garment does not fit them, I 
why do they attempt to force it on ? I alluded to I 
the fiict, that money is, and has been collected in ' 
the free States, and used to buy up the fugitive 
slaves of the South, while our most important in- 
terests at the North aie abandoned. 

I see gentlemen here who are tremulously sen- 
sive if the word tariff, or harbor, or manufacture. 
is but menliuned; and I should like to compare 



17 



the benefits to the nation, arising from the forty 'to make ihem elavelaolders. Some of iheni, I am 
millions expended in the Florida war, with the sure, will disclaim nil title to these slaves, and 
benefits of the thirteen millions expended through- like Gen. Taylor, will refuse to have any concern 
out the United States for haibor purposes ; but I or connexion with this transaction. 'I'hey will 
have not time to do it now. [ I am confident, deny the right of General Jessup, 

I was speaking upon the subject of retaking fu- or of the honorable Secretary of War, to pay out 
gitivc slaves, and I think it due to the people of their money for the purchase of slaves. ISor do 
the nation that they should be informed of the , I believe they will admit the justice or honor of 
assiduous manner in which our troops pursued selling the freedom of a man's family for the pur- 
the business of catching slaves. chafe of his fidelity, as promised by General Jes- 

In a letter, dated at Tampa Uay, 25th May, 'sup to Abraham. If 1 understand the letter refer- 
1837, directed to Lieut. Col. Harney, General red to, this Abraham was taken into the service 
Jessup says: "If you see Powell (Oceola) tell of the Government, for the purpose of acting as a 
him I shall send out and take all the negroes who pilot to lead our men to the habitations of other 
belong to the white people. And he must not al- blacks, for the purpose of taking more slaves and 
low the Indian negroes to mix with them. 'JVll Indians. If he proved faithful to our troops and 
him I am sending to Cuba for bloodhounds to trail a Irailor (o his own kindred friends, then his 
them, and I intend to hang everyone of them wife and children — the objects of his alFeclion — 
who does not come in." were to have their freedom, but if he refused to 

If the iioi^rocs, who appear to have controlled betray his own people, he was to be hanged and 
the Indians, had quietly suflered themselves to be his family enslaved. Sir, I know not how other 
trailed with blood hounds, or. to be hanged for gentlemen view this transaction, but I am free to 
their love of liberty, they would have well deserved declare that it does not comport with my own 
to be slaves. Another important piece of intelli- views of honor or justice. 

gence we have here also. The expenditure of 13ut, sir, where are those slaves'? Are they set 
f5,0()0 for blood hounds in Cuba was not as he at liberty, or have they been sold Into slavery? 
had supposed, for the purpose of trailing Indians. The purchase was certainly a very extraordinary 
In this letter we have it officially announced, that transaction, and one that will excite inquiry. The 
they were sent for and obtained for the purpose slaves remained at Furt Pike for many months, 
of catching fugitive slaves. I desire the people i And if I had lime, I would read to the committee a 
of this nation to understand distinctly that they curious correspondence respecting their being em- 
are taxed for the purpose of maintaining and sup- 'ployed in such a manner as to earn their living, 
porting slavery in the slave States: that their and the like, but I will not detain the committee 
treasure has been appiopriated directly and pul)- for that purpose 

licly to that purpose; that our army — many ofj The manner in which they were to be finally 
whose officers and soldiers were bred in the free disposed of seems to have created some uneasiness 
Slates, and in love of liberty — has been employed I with the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. In a 
by the commanding General, in pursuing and { letter addressed to the acting Secretary of War, 
capturing fugitive slaves. Nor is this all. The ; dated May 1, 1838. speaking of the purchase of 
freemen of the North are taxed for the purpose of these slaves, he says: "I would respectfully sug- 
buying blood hounds to act in concert with our j gest whether there are not other objections to the 
army, in this degrading and disgusting warfare. | purchase of these negroes by the United States. — 

The taking fugitive slaves is regarded, by ] It seems to me, that a proposition to Congress to 
Northern people, as a most ignominious employ- appropriate monry to pay for them, and their 
ment ; so much so, that scarcely a man can be transportation to Africa, could its authority for 



found who will do it publicly. Yet, it seems that 
our military officers in Florida were openly en- 
gaged in it. 

I will call the attention of this committee to that 
portion of Gen. Jessup's order which fastens upon 
the people of this nation the character of slave- 
holders, and the purchasers of slaves ; " by which 



that course be obtained, or for any other disposi- 
tion of them would occasion great and extensive 
excitement. Such a relation assumed by the 
United States, for however laudable an object, 
would, it appears, place the country in no envia- 
ble attitude, especially at this juncture, when the 
public mind, here and elsewhere, is so sensitive 



this nation, boasting of its liberty tnd its regard upon the subject of slavery." — Sir, I fully agree 
for equal rights, became a dealer in human flesh." with the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. This 
I refer to that portion of the order which declares purchase of slaves by General Jessup, and sanc- 
tlie slaves to be " taken on account of the govern- ; tioned by the honorable Secretary of war, has 
ment and held subject to the order of the Secre- ! placed the country in no enviable allUudc; it has 
tary of War." On the 24ih of September, 1837, tarnished our national honor, and deeply wound- 
Gen. Jessup wrote to the Commissioner of Indian ed the feeling of the North. But this suggestion 
Affairs, saying, " the Seminole negroes are now as to the propriety of the purchase, was made on 
all the property of the |iublic. I have promised the first of May, 1838, and, on the 24th of Sep- 
Abraham the freedom of his family if he prove tember previous, Gen. Jessup, writing to Capt. B. 
faithful to us ; and I shall certainly hang him if L.Bonneville, commanding the Choctaw war- 
he be not faithful." , riors, says, in addition to their pay as soldiers, 
Mr. Chairman, I think the people of my dis- they (the Choctaws) will have all the Seminole 
trict will be slow to admit that General Jessup property they capture. And those Indians (the 
possessed the constitutional power, or the right, Seminoles) are rich in horses and negroes. The 



18 



Creek warriors received between 14 and 15,000 
dollars for their captures." Yet it seems that, 
some eight months after the date of this letter, 
showing that the Creek warriors had then received 
their pay, the propriety of the purchase was doubt- 
ed. I think, however, that the Commissioner of 
Indian Affairs had good reason to suppose that 
some excitment might arise from this transaction, 
by which you and I, and our constitutents, as a 
portion of the people of this nation, became 
" slaveholders," and purchasers of our'fellow men. 
At page 74 of the document last cited, is a list 
of the Seminole negroes who were sent to Tampa 
Bay, after being received as " public property," 
by order of General Jessup, at the price of eight 
thousand dollars. This list contains tiie name, 
age, sex, and description of each person. I should 
like to piesent it to the people of the free Stales, 
as a sample of the manner in which the slave 
trade is carried on under color of this Florida war. 
But as the list is of great length, I beg leave to 
give an extract only. It is in the following form : 

NAME. AGE. SEX. REMARKS 

Ben, 5 years, Male, SonofElsy. 
Molly, 3 years, Female, Daughter of Elsy. 
Judy, 1 year, Female, Daughter of Elsy. 

This short extract contains the names of three 
children, apparently of one family, and less than 
six years of age. These children were purchased 
by our officers as " public property." Sir, whnt 
do our people of the free Slates, or of the civilized 
world, think of this kind of " Government chat- 
tels '!" I have no doubt that many a Northern 
lady will inquire for the mother of those children? 
This question I cannot answer. I find in the list 
the name of Elsy, aged twenty years said to be 
the daughter of Fanny. I should jmlge ihat she 
was not the mother of the children ; but such may 
be the case. I am led to believe that both father and 
mother escaped the fangs of the blood hounds and 
the slave catchers. 

But the question recurs, where are those slaves? 
I have for more than a month, had a resolution 
lying in my drawer, calling on the Secretary <if 
\Yar, for information respecting them; but to this 
hour I have had no opportunity of offering it in 
the regular course of business, and I felt no hopes 
of success by offering it at any other time. It 
may not have been observed by many members, 
that in the last session of the late Congress, a pe- 
tition was presented to this House from a Mr. 
Watson, in which he stales that in May, 1837, he 
purchased these same negroes, captured by the 
Creek warriors, of their agent, and paid for them 
$14,690, and he gives pretty good evidence to 
sustain his statement. 

This occurred in May, '38, while the order of 
General Jessup, receiving them as public property 
was in September previous, and the confirmation 
of that order was on the 7th of October, prior 
to the time of Watson's apparent purchase. Ge- 
neral Jessup's letter to Col. Warren, saying that 
these warriors had received between fourteen and 
fifteen thousand dollars, bears date on the 17th of 
October, prior to Watson's supposed purchase. It 
will be borne in mind that these are official docu- 



ments, transmitted at the time of their dates. 
There is also a curious coincidence in regard to 
price. Gen. Jessup said, in October, 1837, that 
these warriors had then received " between four- 
teen and fifteen thousand dollars." And Watson 
says, and gives good evidence to prove that he 
paid these same warriors $14,600, in May follow- 
ing. Now, if these Indians got twice paid for 
those staves, they were more fortunate in slave 
trading than they ever were in any other transac- 
tion with the white people. 

Another singular circumstance I will mention. 
On the 1st of May, the Commissioner of Indian 
Affairs suggested to the Secretary of War, ihat 
for the United Stales to assume the relation of 
slaveholders, might create extensive excitement, 
particularly as ihe public mind here and elsewhere 
was so sensitive on the subject of slavery ; while 
Watson's bill of sale bears date only eight days 
afterwards. On the 9th of May, the Commission- 
er on- Indian .Affairs requests of the Secretary of 
War an order for the officer at Fort Pike to deli- 
ver these negroes to N, F. Collins, agent for the 
Creeks warriors, while, from other communica- 
tions, one would think that the United Slates 
never had owned negroes, although they were 
taken into possession of our troops on the 6th of 
September, 1837, and kept at the public expense, 
until, after the supposed purchase by Watson. 

Sir, this transaction is shrouded in mystery. I 
have read to the committee a portion of its history; 
but the whole, I think, is not communicated by 
the documents before us. I have an opinion, and 
I express it as an opinion, founded on official pa- 
pers, it is true, but it is nevertheless the conclu- 
sion of my own mind in regard to the matter. I 
then suppose that after the purchase of Gen. 
j Jessup, on the 6th of September, and the sanction 
I by the Secretary of War, on the 7th of October, 
I 1837, and after keeping these negroes at the ex- 
Ipenseoflhe public for eight months, and trans- 
porting them to Fort Pike, the honorable Secre- 
tary began to entertain doubts whether the public 
would justify the transaction. He probably felt 
that my friend here from Vermont, (Mr. Slade,) 
or the gentleman from New York over the way, 
(Mr. Gates,) might not remain entirely silent, 
" when" (to use the words of the Commissioner 
of Indian Affairs) " the public mind here and else- 
where is so sensitive upon the subject of slavery;" 
especially as it was ascertained that there must be 
an appropriation of money by Congres.s for the 
funds that would seem to have been paid long 
previously. Difficulties appear to have beset 
him on every side, and I think his feelings were 
well expressed in a letter to Gen. .\rbuckle, dated 
July 21st, 1838, in which, speaking of this tran- 
saction, he says, in very emphatic language, 
" the whole affair is a delicate and a difficult 
one." Just at this time, Mr. Watson, being at 
this city, was, it appears from hi.< statements, per- 
suaded by the officers of Government to purchase 
the negroes, being fully assured that the Imiian 
title was good and valid. The contract was ac- 
cordingly made, as it appears, with the agent of 
the Creek warriors, by which he, Watson, paid 
the $14,600, and relieved the honorable Secretary 



19 



from his embarrassment, and the nation from the 
purchase made by Gen. Jessup. The purchase 
was ertected in " this market," with the ajjproba- 
tion of the high ofiicers of State, and in the midst 
of a Christian community. 

IVow, sir, in order that I may be understood, I 
will leave the purchase and sale of the slaves for 
a moment, and ask the patience of the committee 
while I relate the brief story of their travels and 
peregrinations. They were sent from Florida im- 
mediately after the order of the 6ih of September, 
183", to Fort Pike near New Orleans. Here 
some sixty of them were detained by a pretended 
claim, set up by persons living in Georgia, who 
insisted that this " public properly" was their own 
proper goods and chattels; while Gen. Gaines, 
who appeared belter versed in the law of nations 
and the military code than he is in the slave trade, 
boldly claimed them "as prisoners of war." Yes, 
Mr. Chairman, these negroes, declared by one 
commanding general to be " the property of the 
public," were boltlly asserted by another to be 
" prisoners of war." In the mean time, a Lieu- 
tenant Reynolds was deputed to conduct the emi- 
graling Indians to their home west of the .Missis- 
sippi. Among the Seminoles were these slaves, 
who had been the subjects of capture and pur- 
chase, yet remaining at Fort Pike, all under the 
charge of I^ieut. Reynolds. To him Mr. Collins, 
agent for the Creek warriors, and acting, as Wai- 
son says, for him, also attended by Watson's bro- 
ther, applied to get possession of the negroes, and 
presented the order of the Secretary of War for 
their delivery to Collins. There is some dilTer- 
ence in the relation of Collins and that of Lieut. 
Reynolds. Mr. Watson says distinctly that Gen. 
Gaines and Lieut. Reynolds both refused to obey 
the order of the honorable Secretary to deliver 
over the negroes. General Gaines appears to 
have declared them " prisoners of war," and or- 
dered the:n to be sent to the place assigned the 
Seminoles west of the Mississippi ; and Lieut. I 
Reynolds punctilious in the discharge of his mi- I 
litary duty, " took the responsibility," and started , 
on his way with Indians and negroes, both slaves I 
and freemen. He landed his charge at Little ' 
Rock, in Arkansas, to which place he was followed | 
or attended by Collins; who, faithful to his trust, | 
determined to get the negroes. At that place he 
again demanded them of Lieut. Reynolds. But [ 
a difficulty now interposed, for that ofRcer had 
not military force sulficient to hold the Indians in 
subjection, if irritated by an attempt to deliver 
over the negroes to Collins, to be brought back as 
slaves to the white people. He therefore called 
upon the Governor of Arkansas for troops to en- 
able him to efTect that object. But Gov. Roane, 
thinking the safety of the people of his State more 
important than the slave trade, refused all military 
aid, and required Lieut. Reynolds to proceed forth- 
with on his way to the territory assigned to the 
Indians, In his answer to Lieut. Reynolds, he 
says : " Had the Government intended to dispose 
of these negroes to the Creek warriors, it should 
have been done so in Florida, and not bring Indi- 
ans and negroes to .Arkansas, the vicinity of their 
future residence, and irritate the Indians to mad- 



ness, and turn them loose upon our frontier, when 
we have no adecjuaie protection. The massacre 
of our citizens would be the inevitable conse- 
quence." — " Your immediate departure will in- 
sure peace and avert the outrages you had such 
good cause to expect." 

Thus, Mr. Chairman, you see that we were 
i)rought to the very verge of a war west of the 
.Mississippi, by reason of the elVorts of our officers 
to maintain slavery and the slave trade. But 
Collins, who, so far as the public documents 
speak of him, was the agent of the Creek warriors, 
now applied to these same Creek warriors for 
possession of the negroes. This, sir, is another 
curiosity. The negroes were taken west among 
the very Indians who originally captured them, 
and in whose name the Government officers and 
Collins were trying to obtain possession of them. 
But these warrior:", having received the $14,600 
in " the better currency," showed no disposition to 
interfere any further. Indeed, they said that they 
had sold the negroes, and that the United States 
had possession of them, and that the Creeks were 
under no obligation to interfere any fuitherin the 
business. But Collins, ever faithful to his trust, 
remained in that country, and a correspondence 
took place between him and the honorable Secre- 
tary of War, and other officers of Government, in 
regard to the measures to be adojued in order to 
get these negroes bsckinto slavery. Orders were 
sent to Gen. Arbnckle, and councils of the Indi- 
ans were called ; the Indians, however, showed 
bat little disposition to aid their white brethren 
in enslaving those who had gained their liberty by 
such a concatenation of circumstances. In short, 
sir, they showed almost as much insensibility to 
the claims of our slaveholders, as our more civi- 
lized friend, John Bull, has so often evinced ; ex- 
cepting, always, that the Indians civilly \answered 
all questions on the subject, while I believe the 
British Government has never condescended even 
to hold any correspondence whatever for deliver- 
ing up fugitive slaves. But, sir, while the Indi- 
ans appeared thus insensible to the appeals made 
to them in behalf of slavery, the negroes appeared 
perfectly callous to all entreaties. The Indians 
would not deliver up, and the negroes appeared 
to have become suddenly impressed with the 
belief that they could take care of themselves. 
They now felt themselves restored to that liberty, 
of wriich they had so long been unjustly deprived. 
Indeed, it appears that the negroes were thorough- 
ly convinced of the perfect safety and propriety of 
" immediate emancipation and of Western coloni- 
zation." They, at all events, appeared determined 
to give the world some practical demonstrations 
on these subjects ; and, sir, I believe they are yet 
carrying out their determination. 

Thus you see, Mr. Chairman, that the efforts 
of our honorable Secretary of War, and of other 
officers of Government, failed to bring those ne- 
groes back to a state of slavery, and the agents of 
Watson were compelled to return the negroes. 

But, in the mean time, Mr. Watson's money 
was gone, and the negroes were gone also. He 
had bought the negroes, as he says, upon the,assur- 
ance title held out to him by the officers of Go- 



20 



vernment. These officers had exerted their ut- 
most skill to get the negroes for him, but all had 
failed; and Mt. Watson then applied to Congress 
for his loss. The Commissioner of Indian Affairs 
and the honorahle Secretary of War both recom- 
mended the claim to the favorable consideration of 
Congress, and urge us to make the appropriation. 
Of the propriety of doing so, [ shall say nothing 
at this time. I hope to do my duty on that sub- 
ject when it comes before us. My object now is 
to show the manner in which the officers of this 
government have attempted, not only to make us, 
in our national character, slaveholders, and slave 
traders, but to make the freemen of the North pay 
this purchaser for slaves which he could not catch. 
I will beg leave to give the opinion of the Com- 
missioner of Indian affairs, in his own words. In 
a letter to the honorable Secretary of U'ar, dated 
July 1, 1840. speaking of these negroes, he says : 
" Any attempt at enforcing a claim to them un- 
der the Creek warriors, would perhaps have re- 
sulted in a conflict; and, as the hazard of such an 
issue prevented the use of more than persuasive 
means, I think Gen. Watson has a just claim on 
the United States for the money he paid, and in- 
terest." 

This, sir, is the logic of the Commissioner of 
Indian affairs, and that same opinion is endorsed 
by the honorable Secretary of War. I have stated, 
and I think have shown from authentic docu- 
ments, that the war in Florida originated in at- j 
tempts by our Executive officers to support and 
maintain slavery ; that it has been renewed and 
carried on for that purpose ; that the money of 
our nation has been paid for the purchase of fugi- 
tive slaves and of Indian slaves. To these I now 
add the fact that those officers deem it just that 
we should pay for slaves which the owners can- 
not obtain. 

When I obtained the floor, I intended to have 
called the attention of the committee to the man- 
ner in which this war was renewed after Gen. 
Macomb's treaty uf peace in 1839. But I have 
already detained the committee too long, and I 
will only say, that if the public papers are to be 
accredited, the people of Florida held meetings 
for the purpose ofjprotesting against the treaty, for 
the reason that it permitted the Indians to remain i 
in Florida; and they urged that the territory oc- 
cupied by them would afford a harbor for runa- ■ 



< way slaves. Of course the war was renewed, and 
I continues, and like a mighty maelstrom, draws 
j within its vortex, and swallows up the immense 
j resources of the nation. For a period almost 
equal to that of our revolutionary war, the people 
of the Northern States have been taxed for the 
purpose of carrying on this contest, directed prin- 
cipally against the fugitive slaves in Florida. To 
this war the feelings, the principles, the interests, 
the honor of the free States are opposed ; yet, sir, 
they have been, and still are compelled to furnish 
means for its prosecution. Revolting as the trad- 
ing in slaves is to the feeling of our northern peo- 
ple, they have been constrained to supply the 
means of purchasini? their fellow beings. Hold- 
ing, as the people of the North do, " these truths 
to be self-evident, that man is born free, and is en- 
j dowed by his Creator with (he inalienable right of 
I liberty," they have been obliged to furnish money 
I to pay for the recapture and re-enslaving of those 
: who, fleeing from the power that oppressed them, 
I had sought in the wilds of Florida those rights to 
which, by the laws of nature and of nature's God, 
they were entitled. 

Sir, I am anxious to see a period put to those 
abuses of Northern rights. I desire to see this 
war terminated at the earliest possible moment ; 
but I fear it will not be accomplished by the me- 
thod proposed by the gentleman from South Ca- 
rolina. My own opinion is, that all attempt to 
remove the Indians and leave the negroes will 
prove abortive. We are told that the negroes con- 
trol the Indians. With those negroes, an uncon- 
ditional surrender to us would be a voluntary se- 
paration from their relatives and families and sla- 
very for life. They will probably prefer d^ath to 
such an alternative. Of course the war will con- 
tinue until the murder of those people by our ar- 
my shall proclaim peace to Florida, who refuses 
peace upon other terms. For one, I am prepared 
to send all who will surrender themselves as pri- 
soners of war, to the western country, under the 
pledged faith of this nation to protect them in 
the enjoyment of their lives, their liberty, and 
their domestic relations ; and for that purpose I 
have prepared an amendment, which I now send 
to the Chair, 

" Quid dignum tanto feret hie proraissor hiatu ? 
Parturiunt montes; nascetur ridiculus mus." 



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